Mass Effect - Storm Fleet
by Lightning Bob
Summary: Shepard isn't the focus in this story but is no less important. The actions of the Specter ring throughout the galaxy and others join in the fight against the Reapers in a different way. This is their adventure to prove themselves to the galaxy and try to save the current races from being destroyed by the Reapers by doing things their way.
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect - The Storm

Chapter 1 -The Begining on an Adventure

Things on Arcturus Station were currently boring. THe Alliance Parliament was having yet another debate and voting on the matter, this time it was about asmall change in the Class A uniforms for the entire Alliance military. The changes were nothing drastic but just enough for someone who was looking for differences if one would hold the current and proposed uniforms together. And they were going at this for five hours, no wonder the rest of the galaxy cracks jokes about the damn parliament. Outside the parliament doors on a bench sat two soldiers.

The male looked at his omni-tool and corrected his timing, it had been six hours. Beside him his sister was playing some game on her own omni-tool , he had settled to read some old books that he had downloaded, a whole variety of books called manga and he found them highly entertaining. Still the wait was boring and the bench wasn't the most comfortable and he was debating taking a nap when the doors opened and and the various idiots, sorry, commitee members exited. It took nearly half an hour before the man who wanted to see them was finally able to escape. Hearing his name called from down the hallway, he elbowed his sister to get her attention before standing and he schooled his face into a mask of ignorance while she donned mild curiosity. The man walked up to them quickly and from the look of relief on his face and posture spoke volumes of how grateful he was to get away from the commitee. Stopping in front of the pair, they began to salute when he stopped them and motioned to follow him, though he walked quickly lest he be called back to answer some stupid question he shouldn't have to answer to begin with.

Five minutes later the three of them were in his office, which despite it's size for being on a space station, was seemingly unused aside from the desk he stood in front of and in a far corner was some exercize equipment and a virtual target range. Obviously the man wanted to stay in practice and set an example to the men and women serving under him that they should always maintain their skills.

"Lt. Denko and Itazura, I have a mission for you that may be the last I ever give you should you accept." Admiral Hakkett announces. Itazura's mouth drops in shock while Denko simply raises his eyebrow in a silent gesture for answers. "Five days ago Eden Prime was attacked by geth, led by Saren Artereus. A Prothean beacon was to be covertly picked up by Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard to be delivered to the Citadel for study. In the Specter Nihlus who was evalutating Shepard for a possible Specter position, was killed, much of the colony around the spaceport was destroyed, and the beacon burned a vision into Shepard's mind before it was destroyed. Since that time, the crew of the Normandy arrived at the Citadel and spoke to the Council, Saren has been stripped of his Specter status, and Commander Shepard has become the first human Specter. Shepard has been assigned by the Council to bring Saren to justice and has been given command of the Normandy to complete the mission." Hackett explains in a calm tone. The Lieutenants simply nodded as the man had forwarded the information to them.

"So what is this big mission you have for us, sir?" Denko asks, unable to to foresee any task for them from the intel given so far.

"You've heard of the Coursair's where we hired independent starship captains to carry personel and supplies that would be outside of standard Alliance juristiction. This mission goes further, you will be officially discharged from the Alliance, honorably, but simply given a goal and told to accomplish, much like the Specters and Salarian STG. You'll be givena few "gifts" and a few resources but after that whatever you do is up to you. I've chosen you two because I believe you are the best choices possible for this mission and to not bite us in the ass." The admiral explains.

"Our goal, sir?" Itazura asks before her brother could.

"Simply to get out there and do what you can to disrupt Saren, the Geth, and whatever these Reapers might be." Hackett answers. The man was many things; a brilliant military strategist, an astounding leader, an great soldier himself but he was also blunt and honest with his words, something that most people liked and gave him more respect for.

"Will we need to send reports to you Admiral?" Denko's tone alone tells of the 'joys' of reports.

"No you won't, although if you come across any relevent information I would not mind if you pass it on and in the process I may be able to send you some 'extras' lying around."

Itazura and her brother exchanged glances, they were by no means telepathic or twins that shared a similar though process that resembled a shared mind, but they were siblings and and had always worked well together to survive odds that should have killed them both before joining the Alliance. Itazura was rather short, barely reaching above her brothers shoulder, her build is slight but well conditioned, bright green eyes usually sparkled with mischief, made brighter by her slightly tanned skin and her hair which she liked to keep shoulder length and wild was an interesting mix of blond a red so it had the appearance of fire when she moved.

Denko wasn't the tallest man around, not even reaching six feet in shoes but with two decades of fighting for his life his body was lean and stronger than his size would lead you to believe. Bright blue observant eyes with slightly darker tanned skin than his sister, and spiked blond hair gave him a slightly boyish appearance. Both of them wore the current Class B uniforms, though Denko had a sword strapped to his back. Hackett watched the siblings silent communications and let a basic skill assesment of the two run through his mind as he waited their answer.

Itazura: A Sentinel class, N7, skilled with both biotics and tech, well suited for taking on most enemies without firing a single bullet despite her skill with pistols and decent with a sniper rifle. Her success is due to the fact that no enemy could eve be sure if she was going to use biotics, tech, grenades, or a bullet to stop them, in short- completely unpredictable aside from results will be with her success.

Denko: Infiltrator class, one of the first through the N7 Shadow program, a specialist in close combat- hand to hand and with sword, utilizes a variety of tech attacks, decent with most any weapon he picks up after a short time but skilled with pistols and sniper rifles. Also has a shared knack with Itazura for carrying out seemingly crazy plans and quick thinking to changing circumstances.

"We'll do it, sir!" They announce in unison.

"Excellent, I have a ship, crew, and some supplies ready for you. Grab whatever you think you'll need and can carry, I'll meet you at dock D-3."


	2. Chapter 2

Mass Effect - Storm Fleet

Chapter 2 - Setting out

Denko and Itazura didn't have much to pack, as in nothing because they had everything in their footlockers from their last posting and had grabbed a transport to their current position. They did take Hackett's orders of taking anything they could carry to heart and managed to get Alliance Requisitions to fill up a third footlocker worth of various firearms, grenades, mods for weapons and armor, some armor pieces and repair kits, etc. In short they could outfit a small squad with the gear they took, the requisitions officer did give them odd looks as they requested some of the best items in stock but seeing as they had permission from the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet she let do what they needed. Whatever space they had leftover in any of the three footlockers they managed to stuff with rations and treats before stopping at the stations main mess hall for a quick meal before leaving for Dock D-3. Throughout it all there was little conversation.

This was the end of their career in the Alliance, despite the good terms and their willingness to carry through with this unofficial mission. Their fast climb up the ranks through their skill and teamwork was over as soon as the met the Admiral again. Many of their old squadmates from missions past, from both before and after their acceptance into the N7 program, would be left behind and likely to never to be seen again. But they were embarcing on a mission that could have a major impact on the face of the galaxy. The last thought sent many ideas rushing through their brains and pushing their doubts away in the process. Their time of being lost in thought made time to seemingly speed up and the siblings found themselves standing at Dock D-3 where they found Admiral Hackett speaking to a young woman.

"There you are, Denko, Itazura. I'd like you to meet your helmsman for your mission, her name is Trixie Horus." Hackett says in greeting to the pair and motioning to the woman.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm one of the best pilots the Alliance had and our ship puts pretty much everything else in the galaxy to shame!" she chirps with apparent boundless energy. She wasn't much taller than Itazura but had a similar build, her skin was well tanned, her short dark brown, almost black hair is clipped up effectively forming a small fan of hair, and her chocolate brown eyes shone with genuine excitement and a hint of trickery.

"Trixie is correct, she was one of our best pilots but as you have accepted this mission so did she and the rest of the crew. All of the favors I decided to pull I've left the gifts in the cargo bay. The ship however was captured in a raid on a criminal syndicate and has been cleared of any bugs and the few areas that were damaged in the raid were repaired. I'll let Trixie give you the tour, she has been the only person to fly this ship however we've decided to let the origional name given by the syndicate stay with the ship, the Storm Shadow. Now if you don't mind I'd like for you to leave as soon as possible so none of the politicians will cause us any problems. Once gone I've already prepared some defenses for you." Hackett explains.

With that Trixie simply waved the siblings to follow her with a smile to the window as Hackett walked away with a smile. At the window looking out into one of the drydocks of Arcturus Station which provided a well lit view of the ship. The Storm Shadow is a beautiful ship, reminicent of a broad hunting arrowhead: rather than a fairly flat body with wingtips below the body as most Citidel species design their ships, this ships wings were positioned on angles forming an X formation with the engines mounted in the closest third of the wings. The body was sleek and nearly symetrical with no distinguishing features showing through the dark matte grey paint job broken by a few black lines that twisted around the ship. The size of the ship wasn't too surprising, just a frigate roughly 150 meters in length and 75 meters wingtip to wingtip horizontally and vertically.

The two siblings could only gasp in shock at the ship they were being given command of, though Trixie's giggling broke them out of their trances. "C'mon, it's a lot better inside and Hackett want's us out of here. Me and Sparks can give you the tour once we leave Arcturus." she says before she leads the way down the ramp connecting to the ships airlock leaving the pair to struggle with their own luggage.

The airlock and decontamination chamber combination wasn't impressive at all, in fact it was so ordinary that there was little reason to look around besides noting that it was the standard model. Inside though where Trixie was waiting with a grin, the hallway was only a meter wide- plenty of room to move around or for two average people to get past with minimal inconvenience. To their left is the cockpit, the space was much wider than the hallway they were in now and had controls for the pilot, co-pilot, and behind them stations for a pair of operators, presumably for communications and navigation. Turning to the right found that the narrow hallway only continued for about two meters before doubling in width and on each side are a pair of terminals, usually those positions are reserved for monitering various systems in the ship.

The raised walkway through those terminals continues for roughly four meters before opening up into the CIC, which consisted of a rather simple format of a Turian style with a holographic display of the ship ringed by a triangular computer console where four technicians were currently prepping the ship. On the short side of the triangular CIC is a small raised platform with large consoles on either side, apparently for the Commanding Officer and their immediate subordinates. On the back wall of the CIC are three closed doorways, though when the far right door opens and a crewman walks out and a quick glimpse shows that inside is a crews quarters.

"Yeah I know it's a bit tight but drop your gear through the left door while I get us out of here." Trixie says as she waves her hand in the general direction as she saunters off to her pilots seat and her hands were flying across the displays even as she was dropping into the chair.

"Guess that's where we're staying, huh?" Itazura asks only to recieve a shrug in reply before the siblings dragged their luggage to the door.

As the door opened they found that they were expected by way of a bunckbed in the far corner, a bookcase and weapons and armor locker side by side next to the beds. Along the wall on the right is a desk with a pair of comupters and chairs with a large screen above the desk. Across from that is a couch against the wall with a low table in front of it. Next to the desk is another door, presumably a private officers bathroom. Seeing as there wasn't much else to look at for now until their little tour of their ship and crew they dropped their footlockers next to the beds and headed back out to the CIC.

Quickly making their way back up to the cockpit they noticed that nearly all of the crew saluted to them, though a few took notice that it was a futile gesture as they were no longer part of the Alliance and their salutes dropped to being lackluster compared to a few who maintained near picture perfect before getting back to their tasks. Once back at the cockpit Itazura dropped into the copilots chair but didn't touch anything, she is a soldier not a pilot. Neither of the other consoles were being used so Denko sat on the port side chair and spun it around to watch as Arcturus Station docks seemed to move away as Trixie backed the Storm Shadow out and with some smooth maneuvering turned the ship roughly two hundred degrees before hitting the forward thrusters and they pulled away from the station and set a course for the mass relay that would put them on the system to the Citadel.

"Is there any place you'd prefer to start at for this mission or should we just go with our current course and go to the Citadel?" Trixie asks with a slight air of authority, likely because she's in her place of near absolute control and the fact that they needed to set a course before hitting the relay.

"Why not? With so much going on there I'm pretty sure we'll find something we need while we're there." Itazura throws in.

"Good enough for me, once we hit the relay we can start your tour."

"The first thing we should really try to build up a really good ground team, I know the two of us are good but having a squad will be great if we may be fighting a Geth army." Denko adds recieving a nod from Itazura.

Access to the mass relay was clear and the jump was smooth, according to Trixie it would be half an hour before they reached the next relay in the system to continue on their way to the Citadel. Setting a course before leaning her chair back and stretching, Trixie looked back at Denko and grinned toothily.

"This is the best ship I've ever flown! Did ya notice how smooth and quiet everything runs?" she asks excitedly as she bounced out her seat and towards the CIC beckoning the siblings to follow her. Not so reluctantly they did follow, though Denko was shaking his head with a small smile at their pilots hyperactivity.

"You've already took notice of your cabin I'm sure over here!" Trixie motions to her right as she was standing in front of the center door. "And to my left is the crews cabin for us on this deck. And if you'll follow me!" With that she literally skipped through the door behind her showing that there is a stairwell leading to the lower decks.

The siblings followed the skipping pilot down the wide stairs that led to the second deck where the stairs split into a T at a wall. Both sides of the stairs led to the same large room which turned out to be the mess hall that contained it's own small open kitchen though at the bottom of each stairs are another set of doors. The doors were labled though so explainations about **Environmental Controls** to the left and **Crews Quarters** on the right were unneeded. To the left of the mess is a door labled **Medica**l and to the right side is a co-ed bathroom. At the front of the mess is another door labled **Weapons** and Trixie was giving a full explanation of the deck at Mach 3 and showing no signs of slowing.

There's a second flight of stairs directly under the upper stairs and lead down to the cargo bay and engineering. The bay wasn't very large and most of that was taken up by several large crates, though they were all unmarked as far as the tour group could tell. The real surprise was when they walked into engineering, rather Denko and Itazura walked and Trixie was still skipping and bouncing. A man turned from his console in front of the huge drive core and grinned at the shocked faces of his superior officers before deciding to introduce himself.

"Welcome to the Storm Shadow's engineering area and home of the largest drive core to ship ratio! I'm Chief Engineer Sam 'Sparks' Aldrin." Sam is a fairly large man, a few inches taller than Denko and a bit heavier built showing that he tended to work hard. A lightly tanned face smudged with a little dirt and grime along with the shadow of a beard with close cropped brown hair only further emphesized a workmans image and attitude to everyone around him.

"Nice to meet ya." Denko shakes his hand in greeting shortly repeated by his sister though still distracted by the drive core.

"Same here, now I'm sure you're wondering about this oversized drive core we have shoved in the back of this small ship so I'll tell you even if you don't understand all the tech that I need to to keep it workin' right. Apparently this is a similar drive core to the one in the Normandy which I had the honor of being part of the build team. Meaning that this is a Tantalus drive, we're not sure how this secret part of the project got out or if there are some group of engineers out in the Terminus Systems who designed it on their own. But with this baby in here we're faster than just about anything else in the galaxy, even the Normandy would be hard pressed to fly faster than us in a straight run but with this and our engine design that makes the Storm Shadow rather unique, we're far more maneuverable." Sam explains, slipping into a 'teaching mode'.

"Yep! This bad boy may be a frigate but he handles like a fighter!" Trixie chimes in, apparently getting more excited if that was possible.

"Trixie, I am not a bad boy seeing as I do not have a gender nor a reputation of being 'bad'." An electronic but distinctly male voice announces, strangely enough it seemed bored as if the discussion had been repeated many times before.

"Who was that Trixie?" Itazura asks while looking around for the speaker.

"I am the she Storm Shadow's artificial intelligence, upon my creation I was named Kage. My main function is battle analysis and assesment and offer strategic advice to the crew. I do not have any active blocks on my capabilities within this ship aside from piloting. Nontheless, I have no reason to harm any of the crew but I am also willing to do what I must to protect myself just as any organic would." Kage answers instead of letting Trixie explain for it.

"Well that would explain why Hackett wanted this ship out of Alliance hands as fast as he did, AI's are illegal in Council space." Denko comments.

"That may be true however it is not difficult for me to pose as a virtual intelligence to deter inquisition. So long as I do not make any obvious signs of my true AI status we should not have any problems with any of the Citadel races. I will not make such an amateur mistake as that." Kage assures, though its tone apparently changed to fit the impersonation of a VI halfway to prove it's point.

"Well that's certainly different, is there anything else on this ship that's technically illegal?" Denko asks looking at his excessively bouncy pilot.

"Nothing that I know of, a few basic GUARDIAN laser defenses, Silaris armor, basic cyclonic barriers, the AI, and the oversized drive core not counting the two main guns that are pretty standard for this size ship but there are the secondary guns... other than that not really. Whoever the bastard was that funded this baby had to be rich and building this probrobly put them close to broke before the Alliance found them and you know the rest." Trixie recounts, though now she had stopped bouncing and instead put her finger to her lips in a cute thinking pose that was ruined by her gyrating back and forth.

During Trixie's listing of the ships features Denko steps over to Sam and quietly asks, "Is she always like this or did she raid a candy and coffee machine before we met her?"

"Don't worry." Sam laughs understanding the blond mans concern, "She may have had a little extra sugar and caffine today compared to normal but she's normally hyper. Drop her in a pilots seat and she's all there mentally but get her out again and that's the normal result. Can't imagine what it may have been like dealing with her in basic training though, drill sargents may have had seisures."

"I'll have to take your word on it but did she leave out anything while she was busy dancing?"

"There's just one main thing she left out, the Storm Shadow has a stealth system built in, nothing compared to the Normandy but with our drive core we can go into enemy territory quick and quiet- very little emmisions. Hell if we used that near a high traffic area we'd be almost as invisible to most sensors as the Normandy, but that's not a viable option but with the little bit of stealth we do have combined with our speed and maneuverablility we can be inside enemy outer defenses before they know it."

"So we hit fast and hard and get the hell out before the enemy can respond?" Denko asks as he watches his sister try to calm their pilot to a more managable level of energy.

"Pretty much, though some of the things like the shields will likely need to be upgraded since they were fairly recently developed so newer models would be stronger and more reliable. But my team will do our best to keep the Storm Shadow working like new as best we can." Sam assures his boss with a thump to his own chest in pride.

"Trixie, we are approaching the mass relay to take us directly to the Citadel. I would suggest that you take the helm as soon as possible." Kage interrupts all conversations. Immediately Trixie stopped her jittery bouncing and ran off for the stairs leaving the rest of the crew to stare in amazement at her abrupt change in character and departure.

"You two might as well get up there too if she needs anything." Sam advises as he returns to his console to resume his duties.

"Might as well watch the hyperactive space jockey take us into the Citadel." Itazura jokes as she begins to follow after said woman. Denko for his part simply laughs at her comment and follows her back to the cockpit.

Just as the pair reached the cockpit and dropped into the same seats as before the mass relay was looming impressively through the windows and once more Trixie's hands were flying across her various console panels making all final adjustments and calculations for the jump to the Widow Nebula that contains the seat of the galactic government. The siblings watched as a blue ribbon of energy stretched from the relay and connected to the ship and within moments they were hurtling through space many times faster than light.

AN: This is more than double than the first chapter in length, woohoo! As for the ship design, it is somewhat based on the Normandy but for details I'm going to draw up a design for easy viewing and understanding. Not too much action here mostly just talk and descriptions of the ship but things are getting better and now we're going to the Citadel and when aren't things exciting there?


	3. Chapter 3

Mass Effect - Storm Fleet

Chapter 3 - The Citadel

"Prepare for deceleration!" Trixie warns as her hands continue to fly over her consoles. Meanwhile the siblings were watching as space-time was warped around the ship through the cockpits windows and enjoying the ride, it was rare for most soldiers to actually see much of what happens in this part of the ship let alone the view, heck most commanders they've known never bothered to talk to their helmsman besides giving a destination.

The inertia dampeners certainly did their jobs as the Storm Shadow dropped to a normal sub-light speed within the edges of the glowing purple cloud of gas and dust that is called the Widow Nebula and hidden deep within is the Citadel. From their current location a few dozen kilometers from the Widow mass relay and that distance was quickly growing, they couldn't see the enormous space station but then again when the light of the Citadel is reflected and refracted by the particles in the nebula visibility is very limited. However the beacons provided a safe route through the nebula directly to the Citadel and Trixie guided the ship with ease down that route.

A short conversation with Citadel Control led to them docking in an Alliance docking bay, leading to those in the cockpit to believe Hackett might have had a hand in that. Aside from that the docking was smooth and the crew was given a rotating schedule for shore leave, meanwhile Denko and Itazura went out to explore and possibly find something to help on their mission. A quick check by Itazura found that Captain Anderson was currently helping in the Human Embassy and since he was the Commanding Officer of the Normandy during the Eden Prime attack he would be the best person to ask for details of what they are facing. With that in mind they hopped into the nearest taxi bound for the Presidium. It must have been their lucky day because Anderson was relaxing on a bench with a drink in front of the embasies, though he did look preoccupied.

"Captain Anderson!" Denko says loudly to get the mans attention who quickly sat up straight and alert, a true sign of a life in the military. Upon seeing who was calling him Anderson took in the pair's appearance but without any uniforms he had no way to identify them from the general public.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" the legendary N7 Captain asks as he stands to meet them on a more equal ground and thus litterally looking down on them with his hight.

"Not yet, Lt's Itazura and Denko, we were given a mission by Hackett to do whatever we can to help Shepard deal with Saren and the Geth and find out whatever we can about the Reapers outside of Alliance and general Citadel policies and laws." Itazura greets him with a salute, quickly mimiced by Denko who was content to let her talk.

"So because the crew of the Normandy at the time has the most experience with all of them you came to me?

"Pretty much, the more people we have working on a problem the more likely we are to be at solving the problem." Denko finally speaks up and throwing some logic into his words.

"Alright, let's go to Udina's office. If we're lucky he'll not be there and we'll have some privacy." the old soldier says before leading the way to the ambassadors office.

Luck was still on their side seeing as the politician was out, probably trying to cozy up to some other ambassadors and other political bullshit. In a corner of the office was a table and chairs so they sat there for their talk.

"So what exactly did you want to know?" Anderson begins turning full business.

"This ship, Sovereign, what do you know about it." Denko asks getting to the point while leaning back in his seat and removing his sword from his back to his waist.

"Sovereign, apparrently it's Saren's flagship. Whatever it's weapons may be are a mystery but it's construction is unlike anything from any race we know. It flew by the Normandy and our scans, vids, and reports show that it's roughly two kilometers in length and must have a huge element zero core because it landed directly on Eden Prime. It also held at least several hundred Geth that were deployed to attack the colony and locate the beacon. Shepard's team had to fight through dozens of them just to get to the damn thing. The Geth also used what the Alliance has dubbed 'Dragons Teeth', where they impail people on huge spikes that studies have found that they drain water and minerals from the body and replace them with cybernetics that reanimate the body and the Husk will attack anything mindlessly.

The Geth have apparently diversified from when they rebelled against the Quarians three hundred years ago, certain Geth are specialized for different roles; rocket troopers, snipers, basic and shock troopers. They're weapons are unique, specially designed to rip through kinetic barriers quickly. On the other hand most of their own defenses are shields rather than armor.

Saren, I have no idea how he managed to get the Geth on his side but we know he's using them to attack human colonies. There have been a few reports of Krogan in his service which makes him even more dangerous and he's already deadly to anyone and anything he meets. If he had a reason to kill someone then they would die, the Council turned a blind eye before because he was their best agent for taking care of the hard jobs, the ones that would weigh on a persons mind with guilt because of the high likelyhood of innocents en mass being killed in the process. He'd get the jobs done and helped keep the galaxy at peace, but then this bull shit started. Dunno how he got started with this whole mess with the Reapers but I'm sure Shepard will bring him to justice." Anderson explains as he opened his omni-tool and sent copies of the intel he had to the siblings who were content to sit back and listen and browse through some of the intel.

Anderson watched as the two read through the reports and watched the same distress transmission that he saw with Shepard and Nihlus on their way to Eden Prime on that fateful day. The day that changed his view of the galaxy on it's head once again, the last time anything measured as close to this circumstance was during the first contact with the Turians. He'd gone over the intel with Hackett in a private conversation and neither of them like the implications of the estimations they developed so far. And that was only while dealing with this one ship and Spectre with their Geth army, if there was even a small fleet of ships like the one that attacked Eden Prime things would be troublesome and that was without even knowing the full capabilities of the enemy.

"This is interesting stuff." Denko remarks simply as he shuts off his omni-tool and stretches in his seat.

"Interesting stuff? What the hell do you mean by that?! What if there's a whole damn fleet of those things or the entire Geth fleet attacks at once? Wha-"

"We'll deal with it when it comes with what we have available at the time like we always have to. But we are here to try to help to prepare for them just in case they do come, someone who won't be caught off guard is someone who buys time for others to live. The Guard also allows for those who were unprepared to prepare and know what they are dealing with. That is what we are going to be doing, the means is another but we are working on it just the same way you helped Shepard get started going after Saren." Denko explains, though while the speech may have been fairly dramatic the effect was ruined by the fact of Denko leaning back in his chair with his head resting in his folded arms, overall looking ready for a nap.

His words, however he delivered them had their desired effect and Anderson calmed down and Itazura shifted in her seat and schooled herself to appear more assured in their cause. Denko opened his eyes and looked at them both and grinned, "I guess the first thing we should really do is get a good crew since the two of us can't be the only ones who do all the fighting. Thanks for the intel Captain but we need to go over a few things we need to do." he says as he stands up, quickly mirrored by the Captain and Lieutenent.

"You're leaving already?"

"Like he said, we have a lot to do to complete our mission." Itazura explains. A quick bow and a hand shake from the pair and Anderson was alone in the office. He had to admit that it was nice that there was another team working on this Reaper problem other than Shepard despite being sure that the Salarian STG would be involved guaranteed. He was able to enjoy his drink and the view of the Presidium before it was ruined by the pain in his ass that was competing for top spot with Saren... Udina walked in.

The siblings decided to leave the stuffyness of the Presidium and go down to the Wards for something to eat. They found a resteraunt, obviously a human based establishment but meant to serve all races, Ryuusei's Sushi Bar. The aquariums that made up many of the walls, floors, and even the ceiling filled with many varieties of fish from around the galaxy. Combined that with soft music and open atmosphere and a quick glance at the menu'sfor the prices and the place was quite relaxing. After placing their orders Denko pulled out a datapad and started working on it, Itazura for her part while curious at what he was working on satisfied herself with watching the various patrons.

Even after their orders arrived there was little small talk between the two of them, they've worked together for so long in so many different situations they found that peaceful silence was usually best. Denko continued to work on whatever he was doing, though she snuck a few glances at the datapad to satisfy her own curiosity as they ate. Still they found the food and service excellent and worthwhile returning, if they ever returned. Still their view at the corner ledge combined with the aquarium floor provided them a good view of the area. While looking over the edge Itazura noticed three Quarians talking to a Volus at a car dealership. Obviously there was no way there was no way for her to hear what they were saying over the other people around them, the cars flaying by, and the sheer distance between them despite the fact that it looked like at least one of the Quarians and the Volus were yelling at eachother by their body language. Eventually the Volus made one final gesture and comment before storming off towards his office and the Quarians quickly left the area.

She looked over to her brother to find him with the datapad put away and his omni-tool open and in use. In less than five minutes the pair were out of the sushi bar with their bill paid and currently tracking down the Quarians that Itazura had noticed. There weren't many Quarians on the Citadel to begin with, probaly no more than one hundred at best on the entire station but Denko was able to tap into the stations security cameras and filtering the search until they found their targets. Amusingly and most humbling to the pair the three Quarians were nearly right behind the two humans by the time they found them using that method, they couldn't help but look from their omni-tool screens and look at eachother and laugh akwardly.

"So what were you trying to talk to the Volus at the car dealership about?" Itazura asks before the three exosuit wearing humanoids walk by.

"What? Y-you saw that, did you?" the largest Quarian asked, clearly male and easily taller than Denko, not to mention well built judging by the sight of his muscles under his suit.

"Yeah, the Volus may be short but he know's how to get attention." Denko commented while leaning against a wall and hardly appearing interested in the conversation he was participating in- an old, bad habit but useful.

"We're on our Pilgrimage, figured we'd be able to get work easier as a group than alone but that's the forth place today that's refused us today." The other male explains, he's about Denko's size but it's just as hard to tell his emotions by his face because of the mask as Denko without one although his body language gives it away.

The third quarian picks up after the other, "Most of what we're asking for is basic tech and repair work, things that we grew up learning, some of us are better at it are better than others-"

"HEY!" the first yells.

"You're just mad because I'm better at fixing things while you're best at breaking them!" She was apparently proud of her work and knew the others well enough, physically she was slim but her muscles could be seen moving under her suit when she moved in certain ways and she was a little shorter that Denko, thus making feel Itazura feel the odd one out because she had to literally look up to everyone and could only look one of them directly in the eyes.

"So you three are looking for work? We're actually looking for people to join up with us. We have a ship and a mission that has no true destination yet but a goal. If you're interested we'll talk it over." Denko says simply before walking towards a set of unoccupied benches in a corner that looked to be fairly quiet. Itazura stood where she was just shaking her head at her brothers antics before turning to the Quarians to see the three of them just starting to move to follow Denko and so fell in step to see how this turned out.

"I guess you guys are interested then." Denko smirks as he leans forward resting his elbows on his knees as the Quarians sat on the other bench while Itazura sat next to him. "I suppose we should introduce ourselves first, my name's Lt. Denko, ex-Alliance marine and my sister, Itazura, same rank and standings."

The larger male who sat in the middle spoke up first, "Zeal'Reeger, Migrant Fleet Marines trainee."

"Xan'Reeger, Migrant Fleet Marines trainee." The other male speaks up.

"Saleen'Reeger, Engineer." The female adds from her place closest to Denko on the Quarian bench.

"You all have the same name, ya cousins or clanmates?" Denko asks as he finally shows some interest in the conversation.

"Actually we're siblings." Xan answers in a tone that implies that there's a history of having to explain this before.

"From what I read about your people I thought there were some laws against multiple children in a family?" Denko says as he watches all three of them during the questioning.

"We're were a bit of a special case, we're triplits so the Admiralty Board and Conclave couldn't do anything against our family if they wanted to- not that Mother wanted any more kids after us anyway." Zeal answers with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"We didn't really want all of the extra attention but having kids can get the parents sick as it is plus the normal complications that may crop up. Mother got all kinds of special treatment and we kept getting some kind of favoritism." Xan apparently didn't like unfair treatment by the tone of voice he used in his explaination.

"We still can't help but do a lot of things together even if we try to set ourselves apart from others and eachother, but we're always brought back together somehow." Saleen finishes with a small shrug of her own.

"No matter what your species, all societies are the same at their cores." Denko mutters just loud enough to be heard over the din of the crowd by the small group prompting a small laugh of admission of the truth of it from all.

"So, you said you had some work you needed help with. What are the details?" Xan asks trying to get things back to the origional subject.

"You've heard what happened at the human colony of Eden Prime?" Itazura asks and getting nods of confirmation. "This has to deal with that, the Geth, the ex-Spectre, and the dreadnaught that they used to land directly on the planet and destroy large portions of the colony. Apparently the Council already has Commander Shepard working to take care of that directly, we took this mission from the Alliance to assist in our own ways outside of Alliance authority."

"This mission of yours forced you to leave you're own people?" Saleen asks with fear evident in her voice.

"We're not going to even ask you to leave the Migrant Fleet if you don't want to, however it may also be good for your Pilgrimages since we will be dealing with the Geth almost guaranteed you may find something to help your people in dealing with them themselves." Denko adds his thoughts to the conversation. "All we're really asking is that we have a ship with a skeleton crew and we need some more people to help the ship run smoothly. If you decide to join up and have other skills we won't turn them down at all and see how they can work into whatever plans we create. You two say you have training in the Migrant Fleet Marines, the two of us are the only current ground team and I won't turn down some backup. Also, the two of us don't give a damn who or what you are, if the Councilers themselves decided to join our crew I'd be treating them the same way I am you. "

"What's this ship of your's like?" Xan asks skeptically.

"Let's put it this way, whatever crimeboss the Alliance took it from did not spare expenses in having the best equipment. Thankfully they didn't spend the credits on fancy furniture or the first order I'd have given would be to rip it out. It's one thing to be comfy, but it's another to be extravagant... I'd prefer cheap and comfy." Denko answers with a smirk, for some reason letting some of his deeper thoughts out if for a small laugh.

"I'd like to see this ship of your's first." Saleen announces.

"Sounds like we have three new crew members then." Itazura grins in anticipation of giving the triplets a brief tour.

A quick tour of the Storm Shadow provided by Trixie ended with two of the women of the group bouncing where they stood, one in excitement for showing off her ship, the other was excited to fully explore the ship and it's technology. The third female was shaking almost as much as the other females but from laughing at their excitement. The male Quarians were looking foreward to working in the gun batteries and the lone Human male was making sure that the ship had stores of dextro based food and medicines ordered and brought on board with a smirk.

Most of the remaining time spent at the Citadel was spent in relaxation, two Salarians, a Turian, and even one Volus joined the ranks of the Storm Shadow's crew. A small room was well under construction in a previously unused corner of the medical bay to serve as a clean room for the Quarian triplets with a slight modification made so that it could accomidate their Volus crewmate. That little project should be finished within the next day or so, seeing as the vast majority of the crew was on shore leave and the few who worked on it never spent much time working on it. Denko and Itazura never bothered to riprimand them for it so long as it would be done soon to help the crew.

Also during that time the crew dug into the crates in the cargo bay seeing as there was no 'official' inventory provided by Hackett when he gave them the ship and supplies. Many of the crates had weapons and armor or food for levo-based lifeforms, however the largest crate when opened was the greatest surprise as it was a brand new M-35 Mako tank fresh from the factory (with a showroom finish). Hidden behind some of the crates was a Kodiak shuttle, also new and like like the Mako and the ship lacked any Alliance markings. Overall, there wasn't anything truely worth noting besides that a supply run wouldn't be needed for a while until they reached the last large crate. Inside wasn't anything of what the other crates had contained, this one was full of weapon and armor modifications. The vast majority of any militaries troops were issued stock weapons and armor with only the various Special Operations personel or veteran officers having access to such mods that made them even more dangerous than their skill and teams already were. These were quickly inventoried and taken over to the armory corner of the cargo bay for storage with the weapons and armor that they will be installed within.

Eventually the Storm Shadow's time at the Citadel and with it the crews shore leave came to an end. The non-humans weren't interested is being part of a ground team as much as the Quarian triplets, even the Turian who had the standard military training and service that his government demands from its people. Instead he was more interested in handling the ships weaponry during combat situations and one of the Salarians took the copilot seat. The other amphibian humanoid took over one of the consols near the CIC to moniter the various functions of the Storm Shadow. The Volus decided to join up seeing an opportunity for lots of credits amd had set up a small desk for himself near the armory. Unfortunately Denko was horrible matching names with faces, when he did remember the persons name and so they had become just part of the crew and treated the same. Itazura was better with remembering names and made sure to greet the new crew by name to help them feel welcome.

"So bosses, where are we going from here? I do hope you have a plan since we didn't have much of one when we came here." Trixie asks as she spun in her chair to greet her CO's as she and her new copilot prepped to leave the Citadel.

"Omega, we should be able to find someone crazy enough to join us for a ground team." Denko replies with a smirk as he leaned against the doorway.

"We've managed to work out a plan but we're going to need to talk to Aria T'Loak to get things to start." Itazura clarifies.

"I really hope you know what you're getting into if you're getting involved with the Pirate Queen of Omega." The pilot shakes her head as her chair spins back around to finish the prep for departure. Half a hour later the Storm Shadow was well on its way through the relay system into the Terminus Systems.

Next: Omega

AN: Yes, Quarian triplets, not exactly one would expect and sorry for not much action yet. On the plus side there has been new characters and development of current ones all the while making sure that none of the Mass Effect canon is broken, though that seems to be fairly easy since this isn't about Shepard and the Normandy despite a few references to them. The chapters are constantly growing in length, this one is nearly 4k words not including these notes. Plans for Omega make it to be a few chapters, lots of action, and the true plan that Denko and Itazura have come up with and I'm willing to entertain guesses from reviewers on the plans details before the next chapter is uploaded. Please enjoy and submit healthy criticism in reviews to help make Storm Fleet become the best it can be.


	4. Authors Note

Authors notes

The next chapters of all my stories that I'm working on, Mass Effect - Storm Fleet being the biggest along with MNMAW will be severely delayed by way of unanticipated events. One of my sisters cats kicked my laptop off a table and now not only is the screen only mostly functional with a significant portion of the screen blacked out due to cracks within but the memory stick within which ALL of my works of writing and art are saved is broken.

The chapter of Storm Fleet was longer than the previous (roughly 25kb) and MNMAW was roughly 15kb. So I'm in need of a new computer and memory stick, with only the latter being able to be financially attainable at the moment due to being out of work on disability and the insurance company is really slow on doing anything (it took a month for their last letter to make it from their desk to be delivered to me). Basicly money is tight so the computer is not going to be replaced until much closer until summer by which I should be back to work and having regular income.

At the same time I'll have to rewrite everything from memory (though this time I may make a paper copy) and so unless I can crack open the stick and fix it everything is going to have serious delays. So until things improve please enjoy the work I have already uploaded and review, constructive criticizm is welcome to improve my writing ability.


End file.
